JaimeG
New Member

Deductions & credits

First and Foremost To answer your Second question regarding your concerns of being audited I must emphasize two details.

  1. Based solely on the amount of your Charitable Contributions you are at low risk of being audited
  2. It is clear that you have performed due diligence by keeping record of the deductions that you are claiming, in your case the receipts for the donations. In light of this If you were audited you would not have to worry about the deduction of these charitable donations since you have record of their existence.

If you wish to read a brief overview on Audit Red Flags please click on the link below.

"In general, contributions to charitable organizations may be deducted up to 50 percent of adjusted gross income.  Contributions to certain private foundations, veterans organizations, fraternal societies, and cemetery organizations are limited to 30 percent adjusted gross income. However certain exempt organizations use deductibility status codes  to indicate these limitations.

The 50 percent limitation applies to

  1. All public charities,
  2. all private operating foundations,
  3. certain private foundations that distribute the contributions they receive to public charities and private operating foundations within 2-1/2 months following the year of receipt, and
  4. certain private foundations the contributions to which are pooled in a common fund and the income and corpus of which are paid to public charities.

The 30 percent limitation applies to private foundations, other than those previously mentioned that qualify for a 50 percent limitation, and to other organizations described in section 170(c) that do not qualify for the 50 percent limitation, such as domestic fraternal societies."

For more detailed information regarding Charitable Donations please click on the link below:

A special limitation applies to certain gifts of long-term capital gain property.  A discussion of that special limitation may be found in Publication 526Charitable Contributions.